Discussions By Condition: Muscle conditions

Escelating pain

I used to skateboard pretty much every day, religiously. but in summer 2006 I quit because of knee pain. (I miss skating.) well The pain has gotten much worse, I try to give it rest but it wont ease up, Ill walk 20-30 feet and my ankles, knees and achilles tendon will be in serious pain. its starting to happen to my hips aswell. It started with dull soreness while skating. now, a year since skating, Ill have to stop walkign everyonce and a while and take rests cause it hurts so badly (just walkign to class!)

Juvenile arthritis (JA) is classified into different subtypes depending upon the symptoms that appear within the first six months that the child develops the disorder. The most common type of JA is called pauciarticular (or oligoarticular) JA. It affects approximately 40 to 60% of all JA patients, and has the least severe joint symptoms. With pauciarticular JA, the inflammation affects fewer than four joints, and is usually in the elbow, wrist, knee, and/or ankle. It does not affect the child's overall growth, but may cause differences in leg lengths if asymmetrical arthritis is present. Pauciarticular JA seldom causes any joint deformity. Some children, especially girls, may develop a serious inflammation of the iris of the eye, called chronic iridocyclitis (iritis or uveitis are alternate names for this). It produces no symptoms, but can be detected during an eye examination. If untreated, this inflammation can rarely lead to blindness. Eye exams are recommended every 3-4 months for at least 4 years from diagnosis in most children with pauciarticular JA. Symptoms of pauciarticular JA are characterized by flare-ups and remissions, but some children go into complete remission after a few years. Some children may develop polyarticular JA after they have had pauciarticular disease for a while. Polyarticular JA affects around 30% of children diagnosed with JA. This JA variant affects five or more joints at the same time, usually the small joints of both hands and feet. It can also affect the elbow, wrist, knee, ankle, jaw, neck, or hips. Again, leg growth may be affected so one leg may be shorter than the other. Other symptoms may include low fever, mild rash, anemia (low red blood cell count), and decreased growth and appetite. I think you should talk to your parents about the pain. If it does turn out to be arthritis, it is important that you get the correct medicine to help control pain and the arthritis itself. Hope this helps. Kiera

That sounds familiar... I am so sorry that they don't take you seriously. I have spoken to many people that have had arthritis since they were young and many of them say that they were told the same thing. Also if you think your rash may be caused by psoriasis then you could talk to a school nurse about it or something. It is very comon to have arthritis if you have psoriasis. There is a paticular type of arthritis that is called Ankylosing Spondylitis, (the kind of arthritis I have) and it tends to show up in teenagers and young adults alot. I am not saying that you have this type of arthritis, but I think it might help if you were to describe your symtoms on the forum I use. Then when you recive replies from the people who have had arthritis since their teens, you might show it to your parents. Here is the link to the forum:http://bbs.spondylitis.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?YYZ=NAVBOARD There is also alot of information on the internet that you can show them. This is a link where they talk about almost every type of arthritis that occurs in teens: http://ww2.arthritis.org/conditions/DiseaseCenter/typesofJA.asp They have a messageboard as well:http://ww2.arthritis.org/communitiesnew/Forum/msgboard.aspx I hope you get someone to take you seriously. It is hard to be in pain and not be able to get any help. Growing pains usually occur in the thighs and legs, not in the ankles, knees and hip. Good luck, Kiera